Date: 5/16/19
Location: Southern RI
Viz: 15-25’
Temp: 51
Temp: 51
Gear: Rob Allen Roller 80cm
& 90cm
Report Contributor: Dave
Gleeson
After a few days of light and
variable winds, conditions were beautiful for a spring dive in RI. Visibility
ranged from 15-25 feet, and life was abundant, with plenty of tog, stripers,
pufferfish and even a scup to keep me entertained.
I headed out with Aaron
Hampton of Tristate to look for some fish taco meat (tog) and hopefully find
the first scup and striper of the season. We were thrilled with the conditions
upon getting in the water, and quickly loaded up to start hunting. We were both
using Rob Allen Roller guns, perfect for clear viz hunting. Even with such
clarity, our short guns had plenty of range with the roller’s extra power.
The chop started to pick up,
but I quickly found my first target of the day, an aggressive male tog that
charged me while I ascended to the surface. I halted my ascent, turned around
and placed a shot just behind his eye from the midwater column. Aaron got
another soon after in the same size class.
About 20 minutes later, I
dropped into a school of tog and found a single VERY fat scup hiding under an
overhang. I froze, and waited as he slowly turned to allow me a shot- I string
him through the eyes.
A school of small stripers
about 100 strong were sighted a few times during our dive, a great treat in
such clear water and undoubtedly a sign of things to come.
The water is clear, the fish
are out in numbers and the bigger stripers should be here any day…. Get out
there soon!!! I know I sound like a broken record, but if you’re looking for a
laser-accurate gun, go grab a Rob Allen Roller from Mike at New England
Freedive- I don’t know many guns that can hold their own in both 3ft murk and
25foot clarity.
Get out there and enjoy the
spring.
Dive Safe
Dave
